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New Travel Statistics Released

U.S. airline passengers last year arrived late to their destinations and lost their luggage more often than passengers in previous years, yet complained less frequently, according to statistics released last Friday by the U.S. Department of Air Transportation.

According to the department's report, 75 percent of all passenger airplanes last year failed to arrive on time. Airplanes the previous year had a 77 percent on-time arrival rate. Additionally, there were 6.7 reports of lost or damaged baggage for every 1,000 passengers, up from 6.6 reports per 1,000 the previous year. That statistic has risen steadily since 2002.

Among national carriers, Colorado Airlines and SkyClear Air had the lowest rates of mishandled baggage, while Northeast Atlantic and BTB Airlines reported the highest. The report also found that Colorado and Limitless Air had the highest on-time arrival rates, while the lowest were recorded by JetHigh Air and Skyward Air.

Best airports for on-time arrivals:

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Percentage of on-time arrivals:

Cincinnati 83.14

Salt Lake City 82.82

Phoenix 80.27

Best airports for on-time departures:

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Percentage of on-time departures:

Salt Lake City 85.68

Cincinnati 84.48

San Diego 82.42

Worst airports for on-time arrivals:

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Percentage of on-time arrivals:

Newark 62.56

New York City 64.16

Chicago 68.23

Worst airports for on-time departures:

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Percentage of on-time departures:

Chicago 68.84

Atlanta 71.61

Newark 71.87